More than two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese, and childhood obesity has tripled in the past two decades, according to Dr. James Rippe, cardiologist and founder of the Rippe Lifestyle Institute. He shared insights about the economic and health consequences of obesity in the workplace during a standing-room only pre-conference session at last week's summit on health, productivity and absence management, sponsored by the National Business Group on Health and the Integrated Benefits Institute. 

He also showed employers why they should deal as aggressively with obesity as they do with any other disease.

Why should employers care? It's the 80:20 rule— 20% of the workforce causes 80% of the costs. On average, overweight people have 13.8% higher annual health care costs than those at a healthy weight. That number more than doubles to 37.7% for obese individuals. 

But since "obesity is not a reimbursable diagnosis," Rippe explains, it tends to be significantly underreported as a medical condition. Doctors aren't trained to tell patients that their disease is being fat, so they cite specific diseases that often result from excess weight, such as diabetes, heart disease and muscular-skeletal pain, Rippe explains. 

In fact, obesity is listed only on 0.3% of claims submitted by physicians, but it causes 40% to 70% of hypertension cases, over 50% of blood lipid problems, over 80% of Type 2 diabetes and almost 100% of metabolic syndrome cases. Over the past decade, the prevalence of obesity has grown by more than 40%, according to Rippe. 

People spend more waking hours each day in the workplace than they do elsewhere, Rippe says, and thus the workplace seems a logical place to manage the "obesity epidemic." 

Rippe, who partnered with Weight Watchers to write the book "Weight Loss that Lasts," suggests that implementing a weight management program in the workplace, whether outsourced or done internally, can have a significant and nearly immediate impact on productivity, health care costs and absenteeism. 

Those interested finding ROI on weight management programs or determining the best commercial program for their business can look to the following studies for more information:

• Annals of Internal Medicine, "Systematic Review: An Evaluation of Major Commercial Weight Loss Programs in the United States"
• Weight Watchers Research Compendium

Also find related Employee Benefit News articles here, here, and here. 

To see Rippe's presentation slides on managing obesity, click here.